Steve Herbst

About Steve Herbst

Transformational Design Research leader with proven success driving deep, meaningful, and…

Experience

1. Head of Design Research, Devices & Services

   Amazon

   Oct 2019 — Present · Seattle, WA, US

   Built and lead 30-person multidisciplinary research organization focused on Alexa, Echo, Fire TV, and Fire tablet experiences, with specialization in Trends and Foresight, Human Factors, Data Science, Product Line Research, and Research Ops. Examples of team impact:Directed development of unified system for prioritizing customer experience (CX) investments across multiple product lines (e.g, Alexa, Echo, Fire TV) and domains (e.g, entertainment, smart home) by systematically linking ethnographic insights and customer satisfaction data to key business metrics (e.g, engagement, monetization).Transformed Alexa mobile strategy through application of CX prioritization framework. Resulting app redesign generated 30%+ gain in monthly active users and was described by The Verge as “more streamlined …and considerably more intuitive”.Improved cross-product experience by 27%, measured as positive transfer-of-learning across Echo and Fire family of devices, through team research informing new, common design system with integrated agent experience.Identified $1.3B market opportunity to increase Alexa responsiveness consistent with human performance, resulting in redefinition of engineering targets and corresponding tech roadmaps.Built neuroimaging research capability by recruiting specialized talent to assess human response to AI interactions positioning Amazon at forefront of agentic experience design.

Education

• University of Delaware

  BA

• Stevens Institute of Technology

  MS

Skills

• Usability Engineering
• Rapid Prototyping
• E-Commerce
• User Research
• Agile Project Management
• User Experience
• Design Strategy
• Software Design
• Mobile Devices
• Persona
• Android
• Usability
• Usability Testing
• Human Computer Interaction
• Experience Design
• Task Analysis
• Design Research
• Research Design
• Product Design
• Interaction Design
• User Interface
• Mobile Design
• Contextual Inquiry
• Requirements Gathering
• User Experience Design
• Digital Strategy
• Ethnography
• Card Sorting
• Product Innovation
• Design Thinking
• User Scenarios
• Heuristic Evaluation
• Human Factors
• User-Centered Design
• Mobile Applications
• Product Development
• Information Architecture
• User Interface Design